St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1887-11-05
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

S\VVO
The Philadelphia truss factorie:
turn out over 200. 900 trusscs per year.
Expert girls making the first quail
ity of mems linen collars can. in the
Troy factories. for instance. earn from
SIS to s35 per week.
1T has been ascertaincd that a
numbing action. similar to that oi
cocaine. is produced by the external
application to .hc body of the we'll
known intoxicating drink IT the South
Sea Islanders called kava.
Some unpublished letters from
Luther to brenz and five from Melanc-
thOn to the Swabian refOrmer Lach-
mann haze been found in an old desk
In school at Heilbronn.
The interest on the legacy Of ten
thousand dollars. bequeathed to the
Paris Academy Of Sciences by Giffard.
the well known inventor. will be used
to assist worthy men Of learning who
are in temporary financial straits.
The respectable sum Of $4,000 a
year is expended by the government of
Cuba for chemical analyses in cases Of
suspected poisoning and all kinds OF
mcdico-lcgal investigations.-Arka~.
saD T;-areier.
MIR. G. Murray. who recently made
4 botanical trip to the West Indian
island Of Grenada. found the razor
grass in one place 50 thick and sharp
that in passing through it his hands, face
and wrists were scanned with bleeding
cuts.
Recent delicate scientific expert
ments have discovered the fact that the
surface Of the land is never absolutely
at rest for more than thirty hours at .
time. Thus. those great earthquakes
which make epochs in history are mere
" extreme cases Of forces that seldom
slcep.-Pnbtic Opinion
How much rain must fall in the
coarse Of the day to make it rainy
lay in the meteorological sense? This
question has been discussed good
deal by persons interested in weather
science. but not yet determined authori-
tativcly. The weight of opinion seems
to be that a rainfall amounting at
least to the one-hundredth part Of an
inch is necessary to make = rainy day.
~ y Ledger.
During the past season $4,000, 900
cucumbers have been picked in one
factory at Fredericksburg. Va One
acre will produce on an average 1OO.-
900 cucumbers. and they sell readily
in the city at 30 cents per 1000. They
are usually picked when not more than
an inch or m inch and . half long.
One person can gather in 5000 in q
day.
The Prussian society for the pro-
motion Of industry has offered two
prizes, the competition for one to close
with 1887. and for the other with 18Ss
The first prize is about $3.50. for the
most exhaustive critical comparison Of
all kinds Of existing bronze. tombao
and brass alloys. used or recommended
for machinery; the second is 81. $50 for
the best work on light and heat radi.
alton Of burning gases.-ArkonssS
Trdrcler.
"A French savant has propounded Q
theory tn at coal was originally liquid
generated by the decomposition Of in
ferior vegetation in an atmosphere
highly charged with carbonic acid.
The carbon of the jelly-like mass just
formed. after passing through various
transformations into asphalt, petrol
cum. bitumen. ETC.. finally assumed the
form of coal. The author cites various
facts connected with the occurrence of
coal which. he thinks are better ex.
planned on this theory than by the
usual one. Public Opinion.
Mr.. Desire Chamay. the Central
American traveller. asserts that the
concentric circles shown in logs CT ma
hogany. and many other tropical woods
correspond to so many months OF
growth. rather than to one year each.
as is generally supposed. ''In my first
expedition to Palenque," he says. ''in
1859, had the east side Of the palace
cleared of its dense vegetation. to Sc
cure . good photograph. Consequent
" the trees that have grown up since
(up to 1882 can not be more than
twenty-five years old. Now. ono Of
the cuttings. measuring some two feet
In diameter. had upward Of two humid
red and thirty concentric circlea-MI
Ledger.
The Mississippi Valley Lsnberman
thinks that the output Of the mills on
streams tributary to the Upper Missis-
sippi which depend upon water to float
their logs to them will this year be from
33 to so per cent. less than common.
But the same lack Of rain has dimin-
ished the ability Of the farmers. and OF
those who live by trading with the
farmers. te buy lumber. to almost an
equal extent in a considerable part Of
the region to which the lumber is COM
monty sent Indeed. an amount Of
rainfall which would materially benefit
crops would. especially after . long
drought, do almost nothing to start
..hung-up" logs down stream.
Very Stupid indeed.
Even . child sometimes ascribes the
neglect Of the ordinary social duties
and cOurtesieS by one Of its companions